Scaling Impact, Grounded in Evidence: The Food is Medicine Moment

The Food is Medicine National Summit is the premier gathering for leaders shaping the future of Food is Medicine. Each year, the event convenes over 200 people in person and more than 1,000 online, from sectors across academia, healthcare, the private sector, policy, community-based organizations, and individuals with lived experience to advance the role of food and nutrition in healthcare. This year, the Summit focused on both the real-world progress and the tensions in FIM implementation, effectiveness, and equity.

This year’s theme, Scaling Impact, Grounded in Evidence: The Food is Medicine Moment, included conversations about key topics facing the field:

• The Value Proposition for Food is Medicine in Healthcare: How food is medicine can align with payer priorities by improving outcomes, managing costs, and supporting value-based care models
• Food is Medicine in the GLP-1 Era: How GLP-1 drugs are influencing treatment approaches and the integral role of nutrition-based interventions
• National Policy in a Shifting Landscape: What’s at stake for FIM and how to protect progress amid changes to federal policy and funding priorities
• Designing Effective Programs: What makes food is medicine interventions work well in real-world healthcare and community settings
• Ultra-processed Foods and Additives: Clarifying common myths and communicating about food additives and ultra-processed foods in ways that build trust and support healthier choices
• Frontiers in Research: Findings from recent 1115 waiver evaluations and application of FIM to new settings, like community pharmacies, and implications for further research and implementation.